After a week of continuous rain amounting to over seven inches, overflowing our riverbanks into cow pastures, and contributing to rock and mudslides, the sun beamed into my kitchen window at 7:11 this morning. There is a zero per cent chance of rain today with 15 mph winds  all day as the front passes through. The creek at the bottom of our acreage sounds closer than it is.

I hope to get down to the garden later today and pound in some fence posts for a few new ideas to try this growing season.  With the clay this wet, it's easier to drive posts into the ground. My neighbor up the road juices vegetables and brings me the skins and debris the juicer throws out for my composting.

  This year the compost is full of huge worms thicker than my baby finger.  As soon as vegetables begin rooting and growing, we'll be diligently proactive in  our vole and varmint eradication.  Seems the mice problem is under control in the garage.  Moth balls and traps were placed around inside perimeters.  We caught four a few months ago and none since.  Also on the outside of the garage Cliff placed bait stations.  It'll be a battle again this spring due to the mild wet winter.

A few weeks ago I ordered kefir grains online from Amazon.  Kefir is a wonderful natural probiotic, great for the intestinal tract and immune system.  Store bought kefir is full of added sugars so I decided to try making ours.  The kefir grains aren't really grains so are safe for me......gluten-free.

The two tablespoons of grains arrived in a small box wrapped in an Ingles grocery ad.  I decided to try raw goat milk instead of cow milk.  All you do is place the two TBS of kefir grains a clean Mason jar and add two cups of animal milk,

place a cloth with rubber band on the jar and leave it on the counter for 12-48 hours.  The temperature of the room determines how long it may take to ferment to your desired taste.  This morning was 36 hours so I tried it and it was ready for me.

It's a little lumpy because the grains needed to be strained in a plastic strainer and used in another batch.

Deliciously tangy.  You can pour over fresh fruit or make a fruit smoothy.  If you need sweetener, add maple syrup to suit your taste buds, not processed white sugar.  My first batch is now refrigerated and a new batch is sitting on the counter beginning its fermentation process.  I poured mine over fresh strawberries and blueberries this morning, no sweetener added.  I like the tangy flavor.